Powering the AI Era Sustainably: Breakthrough Climate Hardware Tech from 8 Innovators

In this special year-end episode of Hardware to Save a Planet, host Dylan Garrett explores how the rapid expansion of technology and data centers to support it is accelerating some of the most important climate tech breakthroughs of the decade.

Dylan revisits insights from eight innovators shaping the future of grid capacity, renewable power, long-duration storage, hydrogen backup systems, thermal batteries, and low-carbon construction materials. 

As energy demand from technology infrastructure and data centres surges, these technologies are proving essential for building resilient, sustainable infrastructure. This recap highlights the hardware, economics, and engineering advances that will define how data centers can scale, without overwhelming the planet.

Here’s a list of guests featured in this episode:

Arch Rao is unlocking hidden grid capacity through real-time digital load management, proving that smart controls, not costly upgrades, can support rising data centre demand. Anders Korsgaard is tackling the complex system integration challenges of fuel cells and electrolyzers, showing why hardware innovation requires longer, more deliberate development cycles. Inna Braverman is transforming underused coastal breakwaters into wave-energy generators, aligning clean power production with the surge of coastal data centre buildouts. Ted McKlveen is replacing polluting diesel backup generators with hydrogen systems, turning data centres into clean, grid-supporting power assets. Nehali Jain is advancing thermal batteries that charge rapidly on cheap renewables and discharge steadily over 24 hours, smoothing data centre demand with far lower storage costs. 

Curtis VanWalleghem is deploying long-duration compressed air storage that delivers both cost-effective energy and critical synchronous inertia, solving grid stability challenges that batteries cannot address. Sandeep Nijhawan is achieving cost-parity green steel by leveraging low-grade ore, flexible renewable consumption, and ultra-pure iron pricing to eliminate the traditional cost premium. Greg Williams is delivering cost-competitive green cement by avoiding emissions through process innovation rather than relying on expensive, incomplete carbon capture.

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Previous guests include: Peter Reinhardt of Charm Industrial, Carlos Araque of Quaise, Noah McQueen of Heirloom, Areeb Malik of Glacier, Jeff Satwicz of Bigbelly, Abe Schneider of Natel Energy, Insiya Jafferjee of Shellworks, Paul Gross of Remora, Erika Boeing of Accelerate Wind and Daniel Betts of Blue Frontier.

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